Matcha Swiss Rolls, for Food52

When it comes to cake, I’m a bit boring – I prefer cakes that aren’t too sweet, too fancy, or too frilly. I love looking at a beautiful, intricately decorated cake, marveling at the baker’s talent, but when it comes to baking my own cake, I always find myself veering towards the simple. Part of it is, I admit, my own disastrous experiences with making fancy cakes, but that’s neither here nor there! I’m so happy to share this matcha swiss roll with you – it’s kind of a hybrid between a sponge cake and the classic swiss roll. A whipped meringue is gently incorporated into the batter, giving it its signature light and fluffy texture. This is an incredibly versatile recipe. I’ve done variations both in flavors and form: you can switch out the matcha and add in… ground black sesame seeds, for example, to make a black sesame roll cake. As for form, my favorite is to surprise people with a vertical roll cake. It’s made in the exact same method, except that when the cake is assembled, the cake is cut into three long strips and then rolled one after the other. You can see an example here. I call it the vertical cake roll.

This cake is inspired by my Japanese language class in high school. That’s right – I’ve been using this recipe as my go-to not-too-sweet cake for over five years. It started when I was first interested in baking. My teacher had a cute Japanese baking magazine filled with pretty images of pretty cakes. I immediately honed in on a fluffy-looking cake roll and decided to make it a project: to translate it and make it! As a non-experienced baker, I was flummoxed by the different measurements, the requirement for a scale, and the unfamiliar ingredients. Eventually, with the help of my teacher, I came up with a workable recipe and tried my hand with it. It was good, but not what I’d expected. So, I tabled it. Several years past, and I’d learned more about baking cakes, whipping up meringues, and other tidbits of information that helped me understand what I did wrong and how the recipe needed to be changed. To make a long story short, a couple of years after my initial translated recipe, I was able to struggle my way through many iterations and finally came up with a light, fluffy cake recipe, which is up on Food52’s Small Batch column!

Rose Hokkaido Cupcakes with Pistachio-Infused Cream + potluck + event!

Hi everyone, I’m back in the States!! We arrived, exhausted from four plane rides, in Boston yesterday late afternoon (that’s what you get for traveling with miles, I suppose!). New Zealand was an incredible experience. Alex and I did a self-drive adventure, embarked on many trails and hikes, gingerly participated in adventures such as floating down a river in a pitch-black cave, illuminated only by the glow of 2 million glowworms suspended on the ceiling, and combatting sea-sickness to go 20km out into open sea to swim with 500 dusky dolphins. 500!! Before and during the trip, we heard this question constantly: why New Zealand for your honeymoon? The short and quick answer is just because. We’re young, we crave adventure, we’re photographers, we want to go somewhere new and different. The long answer, well, you can go do your own research on the amazing experiences New Zealand can offer.

That being said, I’m so excited to have a post ready for you the day I get back~!! Like a good girl, I’d prepared this way before I left so that I wouldn’t be scrambling to take photos and make cupcakes on Sunday night. Like a not-so-prepared blogger, I didn’t have anything written up except the recipe I’d developed. Oops. Because my mind is still fuzzy from travel fatigue and sorting through hundreds of emails + snail mail, I’m going to keep it short. I’d like to talk to you about three things:

1. I’m participating in a virtual edible flower potluck!! See list of links at the end of the post. So delighted to be joining all these talented bloggers. Please go check out their posts – there are some amazing things being done with flowers!
2. My contribution: rose hokkaido cupcakes with pistachio infused whipped cream. Pistachio and rose are a match made of dreams, and I couldn’t resist yet another infusion. I couldn’t really find any previous recipe about infusing whipped cream with pistachio, but I did find quite a few for hazelnuts. I applied the same principle and – it totally worked! I wanted to eat the rest of my pistachio-whipped-cream by the spoonful. I’m never going back to regular whipped cream again! As for the cupcakes, they are a super soft cupcake, made in a similar style to a chiffon cake, that is supposed to collapse. They’re supposed to get wrinkly and then puffed up again later by filling it with a custard or cream. Isn’t that amazing? I found this recipe and this to be very helpful in developing the resulting cupcake recipe. I made a few tweaks and ditched the custard cream completely, instead choosing to fill it with a soft whipped cream infused with pistachio. Yum. See recipe below.
3. I’m hosting an event with Meg of Bread+Barrow!!!!!! and YES it is about edible flowers!! If you’re in the Boston area, I’d love if you would stop by and hang out with us. We’re going to talk about edible flowers, how they can be incorporated as a flavor, decoration, and styling element, and you will have the opportunity to play around with the props and do some photographing yourself. Also, we’re so honored to have Scoopsies ice cream at this event!!! It’s free of charge and you can RSVP here. 

Orange Cream Vertical Shortcake with Caramel Glaze

I’m not great at cake decorating, so I have to rely on things like a rough frosting, glazing to give it an impressive cap, and shaping candied orange peels into roses in lieu of fancy frosted roses. It’s my goal to learn how to properly frost, with piping and using different tips to create flowers… but for now, I will DIY my way to a pretty cake. Not bad, right? I did the whole vertical cake thing again. I did say in my previous post that I had a whole series of vertical cakes planned for you. So here’s one more. It’s a twist on the classic Japanese shortcake, which is made up of light sponge cake, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries. It’s the tail end of winter, so strawberries aren’t exactly in season here on the East coast. There were strawberries available, but I decided to go with something in season. Oranges. I love the brightness and positive energy  citruses bring to a cold and dreary winter. Not only is it loaded with vitamin C, the taste is unbeatable! I made a plain sponge cake, spread copious amounts of orange zest whipped cream, and rolled it all up.

If you follow me on Instagram and on Facebook, you’ll know that it was my husband’s birthday yesterday! One of his favorite cakes is the Japanese shortcake, and he loved my twist on it. We had a wonderful weekend dining at Myers and Chang, visiting friends with puppies, and cooking steak/salmon (steak for him, salmon for me). I don’t talk about him in every post, but his presence is usually here in some way. Ever wonder how I take photos of myself without clutching a remote? Alex lets me drag him away from his studies to get a shot with my hands in action, or with me presenting a food. I’m too lazy to set up the tripod, the trigger, or put it on timer, and focus to the exact spot… so Alex is the magician behind almost all the shots with me in it. He has been instrumental in helping me shape my blog, not just with photography. He’s the one encouraging me to put myself out there, to trust my writing, and to have confidence in my work. I love him dearly and I definitely would like to celebrate the day he entered this world.

Earl Grey Tea Bundt Cake + Lavender Icing

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? I had a lovely one – with the weather “warming up” (and by warming, I mean that the temperature rose to above freezing. In Boston, that’s pretty amazing), Alex and I actually were able to photograph two engagement sessions! Both were outdoor, winter-wonderland-esque shoots, and I had a lot of fun fighting my way through hip-deep snow to get some shots. We had munchkins, hot chocolate, blankets, and a positive attitude. Sometimes, that’s all you need to make a session special. It felt a little surreal to walk quietly in the woods, unused to hearing only the subtle creaking of branches, straining under the weight of the snow. There were no chirping birds, no rustling of leaves – just the muffle sounds of footsteps in the snow of fellow hikers.

I was also surprised and honored to be one of Food52’s 8 Food Blog Link Love! I’m there with some really great company, so I definitely recommend you check each one of those blogs out.

I’ve been struggling with the feeling of cabin fever, especially when we’ve had basically a snow storm every single week. I dislike nothing more than the feeling of being idle, with plans canceled because of the snow. I become a woman possessed, whirling around the apartment to clean, organize, scrub the stove, clear out the pantry, cook for the next few days, brainstorm, sketch, whatever. This is when Alex usually takes his studying downstairs… oops :). I made a cake. Earl grey tea cake with lavender icing, to be precise. It turned out to be the perfect moist cake for a snowy day. In addition, the light on snowy days is gorgeous. The snow basically acts like a natural reflector – all that soft, diffused light streaming in is actually perfect for food photography!

南瓜饼 -Sweet Potato Mochi Cakes, two ways

Happy Chinese New Year / Lunar New Year!! Technically, it’s tomorrow (2/19). It’s one of my favorite times of the year, because everywhere I turn, I see my favorite things – noodles, dumplings, rice cakes, red bean that, matcha this. The blogosphere just bursts with Asian-inspired treats. There was a time I used to hate fusion, because I was up on my high horse of authentic Chinese food, but I toppled down a long time ago. Fusion is awesome, and I REVEL in it. I think the root of my fusion hatred was when I sat down in PF Changs many moons ago and ordered dan dan mian, or some other noodle dish. It was not. It was just, not. To me, fusion then represented fake-asian or asian imposters – but I came to realize that’s not what fusion is about. It’s the ultimate creative exercise to incorporate asian flavors in nontraditional ways. It’s what I find most stimulating right now (red bean hand pies, anyone?)

Let’s have some link love, because nothing makes me happier than seeing all these lunar new year posts:

Chocolate dipped black sesame fortune cookies. Yes. Read that over again and then just go visit his site.
This cake that embodies my current two favorite flavors – matcha and black sesame
Turnip cake, which I hated as a child but now cherish.
This other cake because, Molly is awesome and matcha + black sesame, again.
Lucky dumplings and noodles, because everyone can use a bit of extra luck!
Whole fish, another food for good luck on New Year’s.
Egg tarts, only of of my favorite dim sum items in the whole world.
And OK, it might be weird to give myself link love, but I make these posts because I love the recipes, and they’re perfect for CNY!
Dumpling potstickers, because I’m making these again this weekend.
PINEAPPLE CAKE / Feng Li Su! 

Have I convinced you that Lunar New Year is a wonderful time of the year? If not, well, you should know there’s another tradition involved: hong bap 红包！！There’s a saying kids used to parrot as a joke – 恭喜发财红包拿来, which translates to “best wishes and fortunes, hand over the red envelopes”! Little red envelopes stuffed with money, usually given by family members. As a kid, I looked forward to this so that I could tuck it away for my savings! It’s like another Christmas.

Black Sesame Vertical Roll Cake + Matcha Mochi

It’s Valentine’s Day. This cake has hearts on it. But it’s not meant for Valentine’s day. I made this cake and I’m posting on this particular day, because it’s my  mom’s birthday!!!! Happy birthday, Mom!!! I love you so much and I want to dedicate this cake to you.

I honestly thought I’d start out with a anecdote or a mini biography about my mom, but I can’t put those into words. Instead, a list of little moments comes through. Like when she waited with me outside a big hall before I took my piano exams. When she first taught me how to cook and and basically just threw in seasonings with no measurements and told me to cook until it just looks right. When she stayed outside in the car reading a book, waiting for me and my sister to finish our harp lessons. When I came home crying because I got a traffic ticket, and she just smiled and said it’s OK, but didn’t you see the sign that said no turn on red? When she dropped me off in St Louis for college for the first time, leaving me with packs of homemade goods. When I get a short, punctuated text back because she’s not used to texting. When she and my dad decided to buy a larger tote bag for my aunt in China, because “it’s better to fit bread”. When she patiently taught me how to wrap shaomai. And zhongzi. And jiu cai he zi, and so many more precious things. When she laughed at me in Shanghai because I was obviously targeted as the foreigner… because I didn’t speak Shanghainese and she had to intervene.

These little moments don’t seem to be significant, but I hoard them like a miser now that I’m geographically miles away. My mom is my inspiration (her food is one of the reasons I even decided to start this blog). She’s the person I go to for advice, my bulwark of steadiness. She’s my comfort, my rock. My mom is who I want to be when I grow up.

Matcha Vertical Cake Roll

We’ve all had swiss rolls before – pumpkin rolls, strawberry cake rolls, and my favorite, matcha cake rolls. Now, I’m not cake decorator or even baker – I admit it: I’m terrified of making cakes. Crumb coats, frosting, just baking the cake right… there’s a million steps to perfecting layer cakes. On my wish list is this book by Linda Lomelino, because who can resist good photography, pretty cakes, and instructions on how to bake a cake?

So I turn to the cake roll. Instead of the normal way to roll this cake, I rolled it vertically. It’s a fancy (ish) way to say that I cut it into strips and kept on rolling so it became a big wheel of cake and whipped cream. Then I just turned it on its side so that the swirls are facing up. I’m doing a horrible job of explaining this. One day, I will make a step by step photos post. I promise!! For now, hopefully these photos will help you get a sense of what it looks like.